VA Initiates
by ThatOneChick'98
Summary: Rose and Dimitri are training new transfers. Lissa, a transfer from Abnegation, shows up, and Rose's world is flipped upside down. As she trains Lissa, secrets from Rose's past are revealed. The transfers will soon find out that their mentors are not what they seem to be. Will Rose and Dimitri fix their relationship or will they be stuck in this never ending circle of hurt?
1. Chapter 1

VA Transfers

Ch 1

"You're late," he whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

Oh, here we go I thought to myself.

"Sorry, I had something important to attend to," I responded tersely, not bothering to keep my voice down.

"I hope it was worth it," he said in his quiet voice. I sighed.

"Loosen up, Comrade, the cubs aren't even here yet." I said, turning to look at him. I could hear Uriah going through the speech at the top of the net. I had about five minutes to battle it out with my partner before we had to stop.

"You have such an... affectionate name for the transfers, yet refuse to be on time for them."

"I'm on time when I have to be. Besides, I don't think my cubs mind right now," I said sarcastically, pointing my arm towards the empty net to emphasize my point. He glared at me for a minute, and I returned his gaze with my signature smirk, daring him to respond. It might have seemed childish on my part, but he was the reason we were like this to begin with.

Breaking us from our stand-off, I heard the first initiate falling before I saw him. He was laughing the whole way down, and when he landed he looked like he had no intention of getting up. I felt bad for telling him he had to get off, it was like taking candy away from a little kid.

"What's your name?"

"Mason, your's?"

"Not important right now," I took his arm and raised it above his head, "First jumper, Mason!" The crowd cheered and I let go of his hand, pushing him to the side, "Go stand over there."

After that, they just kept falling one after the other.

In the low light, I tried to memorize their faces as they landed. They were our future and I was going to make sure that what they brought was bright. The last one immediately caught my attention. Blonde hair, green eyes, and pale skin, she looked nothing like a Dauntless, though that wasn't the only thing that caught my attention. Her bland, grey clothes also made her stick out.

"You're Abnegation."

"Yes," she said looking down, "Or at least I was."

I was puzzled, and I didn't think I'd get anymore out of her,"What's your name?"

"Vasilisa."

I looked at her, she had to be kidding. I turned around, thinking quickly, "Lissa!" I shouted to the crowd before turning to her, "You'll thank me later. Your name sounds like Vaseline. You don't want that."

Uriah jumped down, beside me, "That's it for the transfers. I'm gonna let the Dauntless born figure it out for themselves."

"Great, thanks sugarplum."

"Your welcome, cupcake."

"You are both very immature," the man beside me said. He had been silent this whole time, silently observing in his weird way, absorbing everything that happened. He waved to the cubs telling them silently to follow him. They didn't know who he was, but they could tell he was in charge of them.

I followed him and after a few seconds' hesitation the cubs followed me. We walked into the light and he finally came into clear view of the cubs. A few of them gasped, taking in everything about him. He was handsome: tall with brown, shoulder-length hair, that was currently pulled back, his long, black coat flowed behind him making him look like a god according to dauntless gossip.

More like the devil, I thought to myself.

An extremely good looking one, a voice inside me said back.

We walked into a tunnel that causes even the smallest of whispers to reverberate through the corridor. My co-trainer liked to use this place to introduce himself because he never liked raising his voice.

"I'm Dimitri, this is Rose," I waved when he nodded towards me, "We're going to show you around the complex then we're going to have dinner. Tomorrow you will be in the gym at eight AM, a minute late, you will not be allowed in. Any questions you have you can ask Rose at dinner."

He did this every year, throwing me all the questions. He didn't like talking and knew I loved it. That was the whole reason he did it, and I hated him for it. It made me love them too much, and if they died or were thrown out, I was the one that suffered, not him.

I had tried so hard in previous years to not become too attached but it never worked. Even the most annoying of kids managed to worm their way into my heart, and I felt responsible if they didn't make the cut. I gave up on this endeavor last year, letting them into my heart before I even knew them. It was easier for all of us that way. The cubs knew where they stood with me and no one blamed me when I was heart broken over one of them dying. I also found it decreased the suicide rates if they thought they had someone to go to who had been through what they are to talk to. Even with the new curriculum for training, it was still common to have those who thought death was better than being factionless.

I realized as we entered the dining hall that these thoughts had taken over my mind, and I had blanked out during the entire tour.

Luckily no one seemed to have noticed, well one person noticed.

"You okay?" Dimitri asked as we settled down at the tables. I scanned the room for the cubs, since they would no doubt come find me with their questions.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

For a moment, he stood there and I thought he was going to sit down with me, but then the first transfer arrived and he remembered why nobody sat with me on the first day of training; there had to be room for the transfers.

"Hi," the transfer said uncertainly as Dimitri walked away, "Can I sit here?"

"I don't know, can you?" The transfer paused for a moment before speaking again.

"May I sit here?"

"Yes, you may. What's your name again?"

"Mia, I'm a Candor."

I looked up at her with a smirk, "I'm sorry, I thought you were Dauntless."

She smiled a little, "I am now. Finally, I've always wanted to learn how to fight. Defend ourselves. We will learn that, won't we?"

"It's in the curriculum."

She looked excited, almost jumping in her seat, "What type? How much will we learn?"

I didn't answer for a second, weighing my options, "All types. Self-defense, knives, guns, one-on-one, group fighting. You'll be in good hands.

But make no mistake, I hope you don't have to use it. It's never fun when you do."

She looked a little crestfallen after that, but quickly perked up as the others sat down.

"So," a boy said, sitting beside Mia. Who was he? Chris. Christopher. Christian, that's it! "The Stiff just asked me what the food was. She's still sticking to that 'we don't do indulgence in Abnegation' thing. Can you believe that?"

"I'm sorry," I said, "Why is a Stiff in the Dauntless compound? There are only Dauntless in here."

"I know, so why is she still sticking to the dishonesty of the Abnegation?" he was challenging me and his fellow initiate.

"Abnegation have been sticking to that story for years now, almost as if it's" I paused putting a surprised look on my face, "Real."

"You honestly believe that?" he asked.

"I believe in what I see. I have seen no signs of indulgence within the Abnegation. End of discussion," I said before looking down at my food and mumbled quietly, "Dickhead."

Mia looked at me curiously, "What faction are you from?"

"Who says I'm not from Dauntless?"

"Well...no one, but-"

"I'm Dauntless now, that's all that matters. You're all Dauntless now. Deal with it or leave."

They were silent after that, as Lissa and the others sat down, "I'm guessing you all have questions about training and initiation. You may now ask them to your supreme leader."

"What's up with Dimitri?" Mason asked.

"He has a disease that eats his feelings," I said with a straight face. Mason and the other cubs looked at me incredulously and I couldn't keep myself from chuckling at their expressions. I took a deep breath before moving on, "Truthfully, he's quiet. He doesn't really let people in, which is smart in this field."

"In this field? What training us? What's so hard about training some recruits?" Christian scoffed.

Well, look who had a real question, though I was getting annoyed with his know-it-all attitude.

"Yes. You all are about to go through one of the worst or best times of your life, depending on the year and the group. Getting close to you is either great or horrible. I choose to get close, Dimitri...not so much."

"So, he gets a warrant to be a dick?" Christian said.

I actually laughed at that comment, "I'm going to have to remember that one. Warrant to be a dick!"

They looked at me expectantly and I sighed deciding to give them a brief explanation for Dimitri's behavior, though not too much since it was his story to tell.

"Fine, story time. Once there was a time when Dimitri was able to get close to the transfers, but he finally snapped after a particularly bad year. He had worked really hard to get the whole group to work as a team, and then it all fell apart. One member committed suicide and the rest went downhill after that. Most of them went into depression, quit and became factionless, or went insane and the rest that did end up finishing weren't the same as when they entered the compound. A girl that he had grown really close to made some bad choices. She was one of the few to make it in, but like the rest she was never the same. After that he learned not to grow attached to you all."

They were silent, so I said,"let's hope this will be a good year."


	2. Chapter 2

VA Transfers

Ch 2

Rose

The next day we awoke the cubs at around 0530 and begin prepping them for the first day of the rest of their existence, well unless they became factionless...

"Rise and shine, little cubs!" I shouted as I entered the transfers' dorm.

"Would you stop calling us that?! You're, what, one, two years older than us? Sheesh, we're not babies!" One of the transfers groaned in aggravation.

I looked over to see it was that Christian kid from Candor. Well, that explains his blunt response, but no one talks to Rose Hathaway that way without receiving punishment. I went over to the sink in the end of the room and filled a bucket with cold water. Then I carried the bucket to the bunk, where Christian had cuddled back into his sheets.

"Aaaaahhh!" He exclaimed jumping up from his mattress and hitting his head on the bed above him.

The whole dorm erupted in laughter and I couldn't hide my smirk. I caught a glance from Dimitri from across the room and could have sworn there was slight humor in his eyes before they returned to their usually stoic look.

"Thank you, Christian, for volunteering to clean the mess hall after each meal for the rest of the week. I expect it will remain spotless under your amazing care." I announced, looking him in the eyes. He glared back, but was smart enough not to respond.

"You all have ten minutes to get down to breakfast. Training begins at 0620. For every minute you're late, you will run a lap around the training room." Dimitri announced.

With that, Dimitri left me with the transfers and I chuckled at their shocked faces. I started to follow after him when my favorite transfer spoke up.

"He's kidding right?"

I rolled my eyes, and as I turned to face Christian and answer his stupid question a brilliant idea popped into my head, "Of course he is." I saw the room take a collective sigh of relief and I had to work hard to keep a serious face.

"What will actually happen is you will run one lap for every minute you're late while everyone else is doing their drills. When you finish your laps, you will immediately join in with your fellow transfers in whatever drill they are working on. Once training has ended, you will stay after with Dimitri and make up the drills you missed in your run," I explained, watching their faces drop with each sentence. I couldn't keep my self from laughing at their worried expressions. I may care about these cubs, but it doesn't mean I can't mess with them.

After my short laugh, I put on my serious face again and gave them some advice.

"You now have seven minutes to get down to breakfast. I would spend this time getting ready instead of standing in shock. Oh and some advice for you cubs: stay off Dimitri's bad side, it's not something you want to see," I warned at the entrance and then walked out making my way to the mess hall.

At 0630, all the transfers finally made it to the training room. I rolled my eyes when I saw the number of transfers that actually took my warning seriously. Out of the ten transfers that made it this far only Lissa, Mia, and Eddie took heed of my warning. The dauntless born at least knew better than to try and push Dimitri's buttons, since they knew all the rumors and stories surrounding the supposed "god." I snorted to myself.

"God", right and I'm an angel, I thought.

"Rose, help me demonstrate how to properly incapacitate an opponent." Dimitri told me, breaking me out of my musings.

"Sure thing, comrade." I rolled my eyes at him, but walked towards the mat to face off with him.

"Guess you needed to bring in a real expert to show these cubs how to fight?" I taunted him as we circled each other. As expected, he kept his face blank of any expression and didn't acknowledge my pre-battle taunt.

I made the first move by throwing a right jab at his head. He swerved his head right and wrapped his arm over my extended fist. He then swung his right fist in an arc aimed for my left side ribs. I blocked it with my free forearm and got a hit at his chest before he repelled my arm away and kicked me in the abdomen, releasing my arm in the process. I recovered quick advanced again faking with a left hook and following with a round house kick. He stumbled backwards and I went to pin him, but before I could get him down he grabbed my shoulders flipped me and had me pinned. You could say I was a bit frustrated.

I attempted to throw him off, but only managed to bring a smirk to his face. Finally I sighed in defeat and tapped out, since I knew that once he had me pinned there would be no way for me to get of it.

Dimitri let go of me and proceeded address the cubs.

"Can anyone tell me what they just saw?" He asked in an authoritative voice.

"Haha, easy. We just saw the great Rose get her butt handed to her!" Christian burst out in amusement.

Dimitri looked at my irritated face and smirked slightly at how annoyed I was getting.

"Christian, you can run two extra laps since you back talked. Anybody else who stopped during their run may also add two more laps," I announced as I made my way off the mat.

"Can anyone tell me what else they saw during our match? What kinds of moves did you see? Was there a difference in styles? Anything at all," Dimitri continued as he tested the cubs.

"Rose seemed more enthusiastic in her moves, while you were more laid back and patient," Eddie spoke up.

"Is that all?" Dimitri asked raising his eyebrow.

The cubs continued to speak up and give input into what they observed during our sparing match for the next couple of minutes.

"Good observations, initiates. You might actually make it another day in Dauntless," Dimitri praised.

"Now that you all have seen and examined a fight, we will pair you up with a fighting partner for you to face off against and get a see how much we will need to teach you in preparation for your first test," he continued as I went over to the board and started putting up the pairs I had matched together during the review.

"Um, Dimitri, what do you mean first test? I thought we made it after the jump," Lissa asked timidly, still acting like an Abnegation.

"The jump is just to see if you have a chance at making it in Dauntless. If you can't board a train and make a simple jump that anyone could do, then there would be no chance of you making it as a true Dauntless." Dimitri answered Lissa, then turned to the rest of the cubs. "After making it through the first night, the real initiation starts. Initiation consists of three stages. The first stage is a test of your physical ability. We'll see how well you can make it in a fight, which you'll need once you get out into the real world. You'll be put in pairs each day, you'll fight, and then you'll learn from it, mostly through trial and error," he said, just loud enough for me to hear.

I finished the match ups and let the cubs see how I paired them up. Here were the pairs:

Christian-Eddie

Mason-Jill

Todd-Cameron

James-Victor

Darrel-Connor

Xander-Ivan

Lissa-Mia

"Start at the top, Christian and Eddie."


	3. Chapter 3

"She's terrible. Horrible. Awful. Catastrophic!"

"It's her first fight," Dimitri said, following me down the hallway.

"She was knocked out in the first blow. I said 'go', not 'go to sleep'."

"So what are you going to do about it?" I stopped suddenly, and he screeched to a stop behind me so he didn't run into me. He wouldn't touch me.

"I'm going to Tris."

"Tris? What do you expect her to do about it?"

"What do you expect me to do about it?"

"Something! The first blow. None of us were ever that bad. She didn't even try to block it, she didn't have the chance."

"Rose is right, no one has ever been that bad," Four said from his spot behind Tris' desk.

"Thank you!"

"I still hate you."

"I know."

"Personal emotions aside," Tris said, "We can't do anything about it. We can just hope that she somehow passes the first stage and is better in the second."

"She's too timid. She wasn't meant to be a fighter," I said, remembering the tiny girl in her gray robes. She had been too scared to ask to join the dodgeball game, so she sat and watched every day, "She's always been timid. Why is she here?"

"Is she running?" Four asked.

"I don't know."

"Well, maybe if she breaks out of her shell she'll be better," Tris said.

"She's not going to do it on her own. She'll need help."

"Well then you can help her, you know a ton about confidence considering who you dated," Four said.

"Tobias!" Tris scolded.

I sat there thinking, not listening to Tris reprimand him.

I was the only one that would. Dimitri would close her back up by intimidating her and her peers want nothing to do with her.

"I'll do it," I said.

"What?" Tris asked, startled out of yelling at her husband.

"I'll train her one on one. I'm bound to rub off on her and it will help her get better quicker."

"Uh, well..." Tris said.

"Sounds good," Dimitri said behind me. I was surprised he was backing me on this, and even more surprised he had broken his silence to say something.

"You're...okay with this," Tris said.

"She's gotten a hold of this 'initiate and mentor' relationship now. She can handle it, and she's the only one that can do it. At first she'll intimidate Lissa, then Lissa will get used to it."

"I don't know..." Tris said, looking down at her paper.

Dimitri kicked himself off of the wall he was leaning against and put his hands on her desk, leaning over it, "If you don't let her do this, you'll be responsible for Lissa getting kicked out."

Four looked like he had something to say, but one look at Tris stopped him.

"Do the initiates know where you came from?"

"No," I said, knowing why she was asking.

"Make sure it stays that way, and she can't hop from worst to best. Keep her in the middle, there's always a chance she is Divergent."

"LISSA!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. She yelped and turned towards me. Everyone was silent, "Follow me."

She silently followed a pace behind me, something the Abnegation did to show respect for a person you admire or learn from. I had to wonder which motivation Lissa had for staying behind me.

"Pick up the pace,"I said, walking down the hallway to the other practice room.

"Am I being kicked out?" she asked, quietly.

"Why would you think that?"

"That's what the others said."

"They're wrong. Five laps around the room."

Lissa started running, "Why are we here?"

"Because I didn't think you wanted the other initiates to see you suffer."

"You going to torture me?" she asked, stopping to look at me.

"Yes," there was a long beat of silence, "I feel like we're talking about different types of torture."

Lissa continued to run, quickly running out of breath.

"You're weak," I said, looking down at the ground. This reminded me of a talk I had been given when I was transferring, "We need to make you stronger. Better. Otherwise you won't make it."

Lissa was done with her laps and stood in front of me, "Why are you helping me?"

"Because I'm your trainer."

I got onto the mat and she came up to stand on the other side.

"The first part is easy. I punch, you duck. I punch again, you duck."

"Okay."

I swung and, the first time, she ducked and I missed. The second time, I glanced off her temple.

She slammed hard onto the ground on her back, stunned for a second. After she figured out what had happened, she covered her face, not crying, but upset.

"I can't even do that."

"You'll get it eventually."

"No I won't. I came from Abnegation. We don't fight."

"None of the other factions fight either. Fortunately, you have an advantage."

"Which is?"

"Your whole life you've been training your mind to forget you and focus on other people. When someone is being bullied, a lot of people wouldn't have the guts to stand up for them, you will. Your brave enough to not think about the consequences you'll be placed with. When someone is in trouble, you'll help. That's a power in itself. All you have to do is enhance it."

"How does that help me?"

"Get up."

She quickly followed orders, and I decided to change directions, "A block is exactly what it sounds like. You stop the blow before it has the momentum to do damage."

"Okay."

"I want you to pretend that I'm not trying to hit you, but another person. Block the blow before it hits the other person."

"Why would you hit another person?"

"Why would you let me hurt them? That's the question you need to ask."

She blocked everything. I punched, I kicked, I did everything I could, but she got everything. "Now, go on the offensive."

"No," she said with no question in her voice. I knew why she was doing it, going on offensive would mean that she wasn't defending someone, she was hurting them, but that didn't matter.

She was disobeying orders, and I had to beat that out of her before anyone else got to her.

I struck out, like I would if I was fighting Dimitri.

She landed on her butt and I pinned her to the ground, "When I tell you to do something, do it."

She looked at me, then down at the necklace that had been tucked into my shirt, but had come out. The small, gray cross seemed to gleam in the light.

Her eyes lifted back up to mine, glistening with understanding, "It is you."


	4. Chapter 4

"It IS you!" Lissa said. I let her go and tucked the necklace back into my shirt.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I replied defensively. "ROSEMARIE! I knew it! And Dimitri is Dimitri BELIKOV! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!"

"Lissa, watch yourself!" I warned her, but she continued jumping around and pointing at me.

"You two. You were inseparable! Why did I think that would change after you came here? I have to tell the others! They won't believe where you two are from!"

I nailed her to a wall, tired of trying to get through to her, "If you tell them, you will be Factionless."

That shut her up pretty quickly, so I continued while I still had her attention, "If you tell anyone, I will no longer mentor you. You will fail. You will be kicked out. Am I clear?"

She nodded, and I let her go, walking away from her and the reminder she carried.

"Rose!" Mason (or at least I think it was Mason) said. He jogged across the Pitt, running into people to get to me, "Is Lissa okay?"

"Relatively," I said vaguely. She had gotten pretty banged up, "Why?" "You took her out of training so we thought maybe..."

"Sorry, you're not losing a competitor today. Unless someone dies in the next six hours, which could be very possible considering you stepped between me and food."

"I'll keep that in mind," he said laughing. Oh, no. Not this. "So I was wondering if maybe-" here it comes "-we could go do something later on?" Whoop there it is.

"No." I went around him towards the cafeteria with the puppy on my heels. I saw a group of my friends watching the interaction from a ways away, rapturously taking in the show like it was prime time entertainment. "Why not?" He asked, scurrying back into my path.

"Because I said no." I said simply. Boys need to figure out that no means no.

"Why did you say no?"

"Because I don't have time to babysit you any more than I have to do." My friends let out a big, "OOOOHHHH!" and as they were freaking out over what I had said to Mason, I leaned forward and told him, "Trust me, you don't want to get into a relationship with your trainer."

"Are you speaking from experience?" he inquired.

I smirked at him and walked towards my friends, hoping he would never know.

"You didn't have to crush his dreams!" Christina said with a joking smile. "He's one of my cubs. I can't date him, it would be unethical."

"Well, you would know all about unethical," she said, pushing me towards the cafeteria.

The next day, I tried to avoid Mason as best as I could, but during the morning it was hard. We were doing fights and I had to watch Lissa fight to know how to train her. Unfortunately, that meant I was in the same room as Mason the whole morning.

While Christian and Eddie were fighting, he came to stand beside me. I prayed that he wouldn't do anything in front of Dimitri, but all hope was diminished when he stopped way closer to me than he should.

"We could go to the tattoo parlor Friday night, or maybe just get something to eat?"

Dimitri stiffened beside me, and I decided to ignore Mason. But, of course, he continued, "You could show me around. You seem to like it here, so you would want to do that, right? We could hang out with your friends, they seem...nice. Or if you want we could..."

He carried on until the fight was over and Dimitri turned towards Mason, "It's your turn, unless you're too busy flirting with Rose to get into Dauntless."

Everyone heard it, and everyone watched as Mason got up onto the mat, his face the same color of his hair.

"You didn't have to do that, " I said under my breath.

"You obviously weren't going to do anything."

"Sometimes doing nothing is the best thing you can do."

"More like the best thing you can't do," he said before rubbing his hand over his eyes, "You of all people should know that relationships with the trainers are dangerous. Tris and Four were the exceptions, you are not. We don't need a repeat."

"I know. I've learned my lesson!"

"Obviously you haven't. You may not be doing anything to encourage him, but you're not doing anything to discourage him. Make sure you do."

The fight was over with Mason as the winner. I knew that him winning the fight would trump his moments of embarrassment among his friends. He would be fine, but I wouldn't. Memories I had suppressed for a long time came up. I walked away from Dimitri to watch Lissa's fight closer, but really, I wanted away from that man and the memories he was connected to.


	5. Chapter 5

Later that day, when I took Lissa out for her training, she seemed distracted. She ran laps without saying a word, entered the mat, and stretched as I set up the training course.

"What's the matter with you? You're acting like I put a porcupine in your bed, and I know I put it in Christian's bed, not yours."

She smiled slightly at my poor attempt at a joke and looked down, then back up, then back down. I looked at her curiously, wondering what she was thinking about so intensely.

Finally, she raised her head and took a deep breath, here it comes.

"Are you dating Dimitri?"

I froze for a fraction of a second and glanced at her, "Why, are you wanting to ask me out?" I joked, trying to be nonchalant and not show my nervousness.

"No!" she defended quickly and I gave her a mock look of offense at her quick response. "I mean not that I don't think you're pretty, since you are and really attractive, I-I mean..." She rambled with an embarrassed blush growing with each word. Seeing my smirk, she finally settled with a sigh"No, I'm not." .

"Shame," I said, hoping to deflect the question with jokes. Unfortunately, she wasn't distracted from her thoughts.

"So are you? Everyone thinks you are, especially after Dimitri's weird reaction towards Mason when he was flirting with you today."

"No, we're not. You can spread that rumor around." I said feeling uncomfortable.

Lissa looked down at her hands. Most of the girls had gone to get their nails done the day before but hers were still plain, "It wouldn't matter if I said anything, no one would listen to me."

"Lissa...The only way you get people to listen to you here is if you talk."

"I talk."

"Regularly? To your peers?"

"No one likes a Stiff."

"You're Dauntless, so I don't know why you keep calling yourself a Stiff."

"Sorry."

I threw my hands up, "Don't say sorry! My God, no wonder they don't like you! You're so timid I feel like you're a turtle in its shell. DON'T BE A TURTLE!"

She looked up at me then back down, "I'm not sorry for making you mad."

Seriously? I let out a long sigh "At least you tried." I walked towards the door, "Class dismissed."

"But...we haven't done anything!"

"Trust me, we have."

I found Dimitri in the mess hall and sat down beside him, "The cubs think we're dating."

"What did you say?" He asked warily.

"That we weren't, obviously."

"So, what's the problem?"

"Well, Lissa approached me about it, and when she finally got up the courage to ask..."

"She started losing her nerve after bringing it up, and by the end of the conversation had gone back to being timid," he interrupted as more of a statement than a question.

"Exactly! How am I supposed to change that?" I ranted in exasperation.

He rolled his eyes at me, "How would I know? The last person I had from Abnegation had no trouble making bad decisions."

"She sounds like a real charmer, Dimitri." I rolled my eyes.

We sat in silence while he took a minute to think, "Christina," he said before turning back to his food.

"If you wanted me to get you a date with her you could've just asked."

"No," he said, "Rose, look at me," he turned so he was facing me, "Christina helped Tris when they came here. Tris was the same as Lissa when she first came here.

"Are you with me so far? Good

"Christina was the one to get Tris out of her shell, which means-"

"She could give me advice about how to get Lissa out. Ok thanks, bye."

I zipped away, calling Chris' name, probably looking like an idiot.

When I found her, I almost ran into her stomach. Will smiled at me, "Rose, watch the baby."

"Sorry," I said, looking at their amused smiles. Ew, love.

"I need to talk to you about Tris and your initiation."

Christina looked at me with her typical 'Rose, what are you doing?' look that was very similar to Dimitri's, "Okay, what about it?"

"When she was all Stiffy how did you make her un-Stiffy?"

"I feel like you should know this already, considering your history."

"She's timid and scared and I can't figure out how to deal with that. Even with my history, I've never had to pull someone out of their shell and Dimitri obviously hasn't either."

"Because he had you. That's funny!"

"Just...teach me how to get her to stop."

"How bad is it?"

"She won't even defend herself."

Will and Christina stood there for a second in confused silence "She does know there's a difference between being selfless and being stupid, right?" Will asked incredulously.

"What did you do? With Tris?" I asked Christina, ignoring Will's rhetorical question.

"Well, I...I just went shopping with her."

I gave her a stern look "This is serious Chris, what did you do?"

Christina rolled her eyes, "I am being serious, Rose. Does Lissa still wearing her hair up like a Stiff?"

"Well...yeah."

"Think Rose. Dressing up gives you confidence, something that she has never had. If you give her that confidence then she has to start thinking of herself. It also gets her out of her comfort zone and integrates her into Dauntless lifestyle. Face it, shopping saves lives."

As she finished her explanation, my brain clicked with her reasoning and a grin grew on my face."Would you like to go shopping with us?"

Christina smiled at me, "I thought you'd never ask."

"Lissa!" I yelled, startling some of the initiates who were still in the semi-empty dorms.

"Come with me," I said without room for argument.

Lissa walked toward the door, and once she got there, Christina and I grabbed one of her arms, hurrying her down the hallway between us. For a five month pregnant woman, Christina could move fast.

"Your assignment tonight is simple: stretch yourself and do whatever we say."

"Okay," Lissa whispered, her voice confused.

Christina looked at her, "Aren't you going to ask her what we're doing to you? Do you just trust her that much or are you just stupid?"

There was Christina's Candor side.

"I...The first one?"

"Now you ask a question?"

I decided to intervene Christina's interrogation before Lissa wet her pants, "We're going to show you the ins and outs of Dauntless life. We're going to yank you out of your comfort zone, whether you like it or not."

"Meaning?" Lissa asked.

"Oooh," Christina looked over at me, "A question! Making progress." She exclaimed sarcastically.

I grinned, "Meaning clothes, hair, makeup, and...tattoos."

"Tattoos? No, no tattoos."

"We said whether you like it or not," Christina said.

"Almost every transfer has both their old faction's emblem and the Dauntless emblem on their bodies somewhere," I said, "How about, we get you new clothes, then hair and makeup, then we can decide on the tattoo. We want to push you, but not so hard that you fall off a cliff."

"So we're also going to keep you away from the Chasm for a little while."

"Christina!" I scolded before letting Lissa go. Christina snickered before going to the nearest clothes rack. Lissa joined her and pulled out a turtleneck, "This?"

Christina looked at Lissa like she was a lost puppy, "No, dear. Just no. Put it back."

"Why?"

"Because we are here to make you show some skin."

"Um, okay?" she looked through the the rack and pulled out a three quarter sleeved shirt.

"Well...you're closer," I said, folding my arms over my chest.

Christina gave Lissa a look of disapproval and put it back, "No." she said simply, before going to a row of dresses and pulling one out.

"Christina I don't even think she has that much skin to show," I said.

Chris smiled, "Good. Follow me, Lissa, you're going to learn how big girls dress."

"Just come out in it!" Chris shouted through the door to the dressing room.

"No!" Lissa shouted out, her voice on the edge of hysterics.

"Lissa it can't be that bad," I said trying to calm her down.

"It's horrible!"

I started pacing and Christina gave me a look she would never give in front of Lissa; it was one of defeat. This was not going as planned.

As I went past a row of dresses, one caught on my arm. I swished it away before doing a double take. I pulled it out and wordlessly showed it to Christina. Her head popped up and she smiled at me.

"Lissa, try this on," I said, handing it to her over the door.

She wordlessly took it and I heard the other dress drop to the floor after some struggling.

The door creaked as she appeared. The dress looked like it was made precisely for her. It hugged her curves with sleeves that came down to her elbows. The neckline swung down to show just a little of her chest and the hemline ended an inch below her fingers. She didn't have much in the ways of curves, but what she did looked awesome.

"Damn," Christina said, "You could kill someone with that dress."

"Do you like it?" I asked.

Lissa smiled at me, "I'm buying it."

"We're not going to stop you," I laughed.

"I don't think we could even if we wanted to!" Christina joined me, almost falling out of her chair.

The rest of the time was good. Christina and I had figured out her style of clothes and continued to bombard her with clothes. We even got her to buy a couple skinny jeans and shorts.

"Lissa," I called to her as she and Christina laughed about a dress, "It's time."

They both went silent and Lissa's hand flew up to her bun, "No."

"We have to get you out of it."

"Haven't we done enough for one day?"

"No, Liss. Rip off the bandaid."

She sucked in an unsteady breath, "I've always worn my hair like this."

"I know. We're just taking it down and fixing it up. New haircut, maybe, highlights, things like that. Nothing to worry about."

"Unless she has God-awful hair," Christina whispered to me. I shot her a look that said exactly what I was thinking, "Not helping."

"Okay," Lissa said as she started to pace, "I can do this. I'm fine. I've gone this far, might as well go the rest. Okay. I can do this."

"Is she actually going to do it or just sit there?" Christina asked.

"Shhhh, this is an important part of her character development."

"This isn't a book, Rose."

Lissa stopped in front of us, "Rose, will you do it?"

"Yeah, sure," I comforted as I went behind her.

"What am I? A bag of chips?" Christina said, throwing up her hands.

Lissa and I stared at her for a second and I refrained from saying, "With that stomach, you look like you ate the bag of chips. Or bags."

"Fine!" Christina yelled dramatically, "Fine! I'll just be over here."

It took a while to get Lissa to let me take down her hair and I wondered for a while why she was still clinging to this one thing. She hadn't fought this much when we gave her clothes, but now it was a fight to the death.

But when we got her hair down, I knew why.

She had been desperately clinging onto the Lissa she knew, one who was still Abnegation, still a transfer, still a kid. When her hair cascaded down her back like a golden waterfall, she was forced to call herself Dauntless. She was forced to grow up and claim the faction she had chosen.

In that minute, I saw a change from the timid, shy girl to a confident, brave one, and as her teacher and friend I couldn't have been prouder.

"You look beautiful," I blinked tears out of my eyes as she smiled at me.

"I could conquer the world right now," she said, relishing in the freedom that her new faction, her new self, brought to her.

"Baby steps," I said, "Let's try something smaller first."

"Maybe a boy?" Christina suggested, "I heard the transfer class is hot this year. Not from her, though," she pointed to me, "She's too caught up in the teacher...STILL."

"Ignore her rant, but she does have a point. You need friends, boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever you want, but you need people here besides Christina and I."

"Anyone you like?" Christina asked.

"Well..." Lissa bit her lip and refused to look at me.

"No. Oh God, no. Lissa! No!"

"I hate this."

"He is rather good looking."

"Despise it."

"And tall."

"LOATHE IT."

"And he's got this swag about him."

"DETEST IT."

"Will you stop, Rose? It's one date."

"Who's going on a date?" Christina and I both jumped at the low, quiet voice behind us.

I looked up at Dimitri, "Lissa is asking Christian out."

He looked shocked, but not at the fact that she was asking someone out, "But...You don't like Christian."

"I know."

From our semi-hiding spot, we could see Christian and Lissa talking. He kept looking at her new outfit and everyone who saw him knew he was in shock. He didn't know she could look that good.

"She looks better. Confident, too," Dimitri pointed out.

"That's my doing," Christina smiled at him.

"Yeah," I agreed, "Except I did the dress and the hair and the confidence."

"So what did you do?" Dimitri asked Christina and she scoffed at him.

"Wait, guys," I said, holding my hands up like binoculars, "Movement, two o'clock."

Everyone looked back at Lissa and Christian as Christian nodded at her and they walked off together.

"The cubs, they grow up so fast, don't they, Rose?


	6. Chapter 6

I was happy. As happy as I could be with Lissa going on and on and on about Christian. She was enthralled by him, and that would have made me anxious, but looking at Christian I could tell he was enthralled by her too. He hadn't noticed her before, but the new look and her confidence had made him look.

And the extra confidence that he had brought her had returned her to her training with a vigor I had never seen before, a vigor that I appreciated.

So, when she punched me in the face, my smile grew. It wasn't hard, but it had made a point, a point that she needed in a fight.

"Good, good," I said.

She stopped and enveloped me in a hug. No matter how violent our fights got, she always felt like she had to apologize afterward, "I'm soooo sorry."

I laughed, "You're fine, Lissa."

"I hit you in the face, Rose."

"You hit your opponent in the face, not me."

She nodded at me, looking at where she had hit me. It wasn't hard enough to leave a bruise, but I knew the guilt would kill her if it had.

"Look, how about you go get lunch and eat something before the guilt eats you."

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked, already looking at the door.

"Yes, Lissa. Leave, Christian's already out there."

She left, flinging herself out of the room.

I started cleaning up the room, putting away the weights and the punching bags we had been using when I heard the footsteps.

"Lissa's already gone. She's going to the mess hall."

"Good, then you're alone,"

I raised up to my full height, and, without turning around, I knew exactly who was behind me, "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like, baby?"

"You're not supposed to be here."

I felt his hand caress my waist, almost to close to my bottom, "Yet I'm here. How weird."

"Get. Out." I said, trying to be mad.

"No," he whispered into my ear. His hand traveled around my waist, and up and I slapped his hand away. Using the last of my strength I screamed at him, "GET OUT!"

He stood there for a second before taking my wrists and slamming me into the wall. Stars winked at me as my head slammed into the bricks. "NO! He doesn't own you! I DO!"

I screamed again out of pain, but also knowing it would bring someone through the open door of the training room.

I couldn't fight him, I never have been able to, but I could scream. So I did, as loud as I could.

Two bodies, one a little wider than the other burst through the doorway, "ERIC! RELEASE HER!"

I felt blood dripping down the back of my head as the world got blurry, but I kept screaming.

Through the haze, I saw a small blonde smudge grip the back of Eric's shirt and pull him away. Tris.

I fell and the wider figure caught me. I collided with a large stomach and found myself in the arms of Christina.

"It's okay, Rose. We've got you."

I cried with relief as Tris yelled at Eric. Chris and I listened as Tris screamed threats mixed in with obscenities before going over to us. She picked me up and wrapped my arm around her shoulder, letting me lean heavily against her.

"Go find Dimitri and bring him to Rose's room." Tris told Christina. Chris ran out of the room as fast as she could with her stomach and Tris dragged me down to my room. She sat me down on my bed and helped stop the bleeding.

"I'll stay with you until Dimitri gets here," she said, sitting down next to me.

My head clearer and my mind able to work again, I turned to her, "Thank you."

Tris nodded at me, "I won't let anyone hurt you, little sis." Then she looked up at the wall over my bed at the words all the Abnegation transfers had written there, "Fear God alone."

It was almost pathetic, because now and at the time it had been written, I was afraid of a man.

My door burst open, and for a second I thought it was going to be Eric, standing in the doorway, but it wasn't.

"Dimitri," Tris said, getting up and leaving.

"Tris," he said as a greeting and a good bye.

She closed the door behind her, sending one last smile at me before it closed. I couldn't remember the last time she smiled at someone that wasn't Four or Christina.

"Rose..."

"Dimitri...Come here."

He sat down on the bed where Tris just was, and looked at me, "You've got to stop letting him do this to you. I taught you how to fight for a reason, Rose!"

"Yeah, well...I can't, okay? Not him."

"Damn it, Rose! He's the only person you need to defend yourself against and he's the only one that you won't."

But the thought of punching Eric made me sick. I knew from experience that when I hit him he will hit me harder...or my cubs.

"Rose! Pay attention to me!" I looked back at Dimitri, and his eyes became soft, "You're not a transfer anymore. He's not your trainer. He has no power over you whatsoever. Fight. Back."

I stayed quiet, and he buried his head in his hand, "I shouldn't have let him get to you."

"You shouldn't have left me," I countered.

"I had to leave, Rose. I couldn't stay there"

"Your feather is gone. You kicked him out. You told everyone of his selfishness. He left Abnegation. You would have been fine. We could have stayed."

"We?"

"Well, you were part of the reason I left."

"You scored Dauntless on your aptitude test."

"Yes."

"So why wouldn't you have gone anyway?"

"Because I would have been fine in Abnegation if I had you. But I didn't."

"I made you Abnegation?"

"You made me MORE Abnegation."

"So you came here, because I was here."

"We've already covered this."

"Rose," he said, moving closer.

"I didn't have two options like you did," I said it louder than I probably should have, if someone was listening outside they would have been able to hear it, but at the moment I didn't care.

"Shush!"

I lowered my voice but kept the intensity, "You're Divergent, you could have picked Dauntless or Abnegation. I'm not."

"That has nothing to do with this."

"Yes it does, Dimitri. We were best friends, and you betrayed me."

"I picked a different faction! That's it!"

"You told me I was family!"

We were both quiet as tears leaked out of my eyes, "When Mom wasn't around, you were there, and then you left me with no one."

"I'm sorry, but I had to do what was best for me, Rose."

I turned away from him, "Whatever. I'm over it now."

He was quiet for a while before sighing, "I had always felt guilty for leaving. I would lay in bed thinking about it, how you looked at me on Initiation Day after I claimed Dauntless. You were shocked, then so, so mad. I thought you would be okay if you were mad, that you would fight on. I didn't know that I would later regret that wish.

"Then, I pulled you off the net and I thought things would be better, but from day one you followed Eric around like a lost puppy. I knew it was because he wasn't me and I hated myself for it."

We were both in tears at this point, thinking back over what had caused the stupidest mistake of my life, "Later on I saw the bruises, I knew someone was abusing you, and I noticed you had gained weight, I just thought it was muscle. But when I found out and confronted you about it..."

We both remembered the conversation that had come out of it. He had yelled at me, wanting to know who the father was, what I was going to do. He had shouted that I was too young, and I had screamed that my life was none of his business.

"I didn't know he was listening. I didn't know you had hid it from him to protect the child. I was the one who found you at the bottom of the staircase surrounded in blood. You were still conscious, but in shock and you were crying and shouting and holding what could have been your baby to your chest and...you didn't even realize your leg was broken in two places. You didn't care that you had a concussion."

My sob cracked through the air and he took a shaking breath, "The reason you call the transfers cubs, the real reason, it's because of that baby, wasn't it?"

"I knew I was too young to take care of it, but I loved it. It was a part of Eric that was innocent, that I could raise to be good, to treat people right. I wanted to believe that I could do to Eric's child what I couldn't do to him."

We stayed quiet for a long time, falling into companionable silence that we had mastered many years ago. The only sound was the sniffling of leftover tears.

"All because I chose Dauntless instead of Abnegation." He's said.

"All because you chose happiness. No one blames you for that. I had just always thought that I gave you enough happiness."

He looked down at me, and I looked up. He was so close when he whispered, "You did."

And that night I fell asleep with my head on his shoulder.


	7. Chapter 7

VA Initiates Ch 7  
"Lissa and Christian," Dimitri read off his clipboard.  
The two entered the fighting ring and I whispered to him, "Are you sure about this?"  
We shared a look and I could tell that last night with the Eric situation was not forgotten, but he nodded, "I did the math. If Christian loses, he still stays in the competition and Lissa would have enough points. Even if Lissa loses…if she stays conscious long enough we can keep her."  
"How long would she have to stay conscious?"  
"Four minutes."  
I breathed out a long breath, "Christian's a strong fighter."  
Dimitri seemed to come closer to me, "Yes, but she's had a good teacher. Of course," he looked thoughtful, "If I remember correctly, that teacher had an even better teacher."  
"Yes, you work miracles, teaching the girl who wanted nothing more than to fight to be able to fight. I taught Lissa how to want to fight."  
"Yes, but, if you'll remember, you had no control behind your fights. I taught you that. Control is something you need to survive."  
"The want to fight is also needed to survive."  
We stared at each other for a second, the air charged between us, before I suggested, "Tie for best teacher?"  
"Deal," Dimitri laughed. We looked at the two fighters that were waiting for us to start them.  
I turned toward Dimitri, "Let me talk to her for a second."  
He nodded and as I neared the ring Lissa swung under the ropes and sat on the edge of the ring. We were almost the same height that way. "Christian's not in any trouble of being sent to Factionless."  
"I guessed as much," Lissa said.  
I came near her, "But, you are."  
"I know."  
"Swing, and swing hard. If you win you're safe, but even if you lose, depending on how long you last, you can be safe."  
"Shout out when I'm safe. Just so I know."  
I nodded and she moved to stand, "Lissa. Christian doesn't know he's safe. He's going to punch like he isn't."  
"I know. We already agreed that if we have to fight each other we'd go as hard as we would if it was someone else."  
I nodded. I knew they would do that, "He can't know that he's safe."  
"Okay." When she tried to move again, I grabbed her again.  
"Wait…" I reached around my neck, took off my cross, and wrapped it around her neck. "You don't have to forget where you come from to get where you're going." I gripped her hands strongly for a second, "Fear God alone."  
She smiled, "'Fear God alone,' I like it."  
I grinned back, "Go get 'em."  
I walked back to Dimitri and he stared at me, "I didn't realize you still had it."  
"Had what?"  
"The cross I gave you before your fight. What'd you tell her?"  
I smiled to myself, "Of course I still had it, and I have no idea what you're talking about, Comrade."  
He rolled his eyes before blowing his whistle. Lissa and Christian immediately started circling each other, looking for an opening. Lissa was the first to punch, but it was easily avoided. Lissa kicked out while Christian was distracted, and he just barely managed to keep his balance.  
"Punch now." I couldn't help quietly trying to help her, even if she couldn't hear it.  
She did.  
"Swing. Swing hard."  
There was a loud 'oomph' as she did.  
It seemed like Lissa was going to win until she got her arms linked in with Christian's. They stood pushing against each other in a bare fight of strength.  
"No!" My hands flew to my hair, "Kick him," I whispered, "You can't stay like that."  
"She needs another minute," Dimitri says next to me.  
They were still locked together; Christian avoiding all of Lissa's attempts to even the odds.  
"She needs to do something to distract him," I thought aloud, before yelling, "Lissa! Say something to him!"  
She looked over at me for a second, before looking Christian in the eye and saying, "I love you."  
Christian stumbled, her word's shocking him more than any of her punches ever could have, and Lissa swooped his legs out from underneath him.  
"Four minutes." Dimitri informed me.  
I jumped up and down, "Safe, Lissa! Safe!"  
Lissa, still in fight mode, looked down at the shocked boy under her and said, "I meant what I said." She kissed him, before sending a strong punch to knock out his lights.  
I couldn't have been prouder.  
"So, that was good?" Lissa said, not even knocking on my apartment door before entering.  
I turned and smiled at her, "I just officially got the word. You're safe."  
"Oh, thank God," she said, and suddenly we were hugging. She was safe, she was going to be okay.  
"Things get better after this, right?" she asked.  
I sighed, "Sit down on the bed."  
I knew this talk was going to have to come eventually, but that didn't mean I was ready for it, "You see, Lissa. People from Abnegation…they have a tendency to…defy the aptitude test. Usually the people that transfer from Abnegation to Dauntless fit into more than one faction. It's called Divergent, and it's…dangerous. If you are Divergent, you need to tell Dimitri and I and we can protect you, but if we don't know we can't do that."  
Lissa was quiet.  
"LIssa, I need to know now before we enter the next stage."  
"I'm not," she said decidedly.  
I stood there for a second, "Then you're okay," I said.  
"And…my 'fear landscape' is going to show up there?" Mason asked.  
It was the same question I had gotten asked countless times that day, so I sighed, "Yes. Will you please just let me stick you with the needle?"  
He gulped and I realized I probably shouldn't have used those words. Oh, well.  
He turned his head to the side, and I injected his neck with the serum, "Good luck."  
Spiders, enclosed spaces, public humiliation, loss of someone dear, drowning, not being able to find a way out of a room, murder, being responsible for the death of a loved one, disappointing parents, needles (oops), being Factionless, zombies (really? They're not even real), and―what did he just do? The snake turned into a harmless stick and I gasped. He couldn't.  
The landscape changed, but I didn't pay attention to it. I was already deleting the landscape before it downloaded into the mainframe.  
Mason gasped, sitting up, shaking in the chair, "Is it always that bad?"  
I wiped the sweat off my hands, "The first time is always the worst, but it might not get better for you if you keep tricking the serum."  
"Excuse me?"  
"Being Divergent lets you manipulate the serum, which is extremely dangerous if someone catches you doing it." I pulled him up and yanked him towards the back door, "I suggest you stop going around the system. The second stage of training is very hard to do when you're dead."


End file.
